diff --git a/pkg/gui/controllers/switch_to_diff_files_controller.go b/pkg/gui/controllers/switch_to_diff_files_controller.go
index 10a3d19cc..86e927558 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/controllers/switch_to_diff_files_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/controllers/switch_to_diff_files_controller.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package controllers
 
 import (
+	"path/filepath"
+
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands/models"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/types"
 )
@@ -91,8 +93,12 @@ func (self *SwitchToDiffFilesController) enter() error {
 	})
 
 	if filterPath := self.c.Modes().Filtering.GetPath(); filterPath != "" {
+		path, err := filepath.Rel(self.c.Git().RepoPaths.RepoPath(), filterPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			path = filterPath
+		}
 		commitFilesContext.CommitFileTreeViewModel.SelectPath(
-			filterPath, self.c.UserConfig().Gui.ShowRootItemInFileTree)
+			filepath.ToSlash(path), self.c.UserConfig().Gui.ShowRootItemInFileTree)
 	}
 
 	self.c.Context().Push(commitFilesContext, types.OnFocusOpts{})
diff --git a/pkg/gui/filetree/commit_file_tree_view_model.go b/pkg/gui/filetree/commit_file_tree_view_model.go
index 3a93d6eb3..02b0fff9a 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/filetree/commit_file_tree_view_model.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/filetree/commit_file_tree_view_model.go
@@ -194,7 +194,9 @@ func (self *CommitFileTreeViewModel) ExpandAll() {
 
 // Try to select the given path if present. If it doesn't exist, or one of the parent directories is
 // collapsed, do nothing.
-// Note that filepath is an actual file path, not an internal tree path as with e.g. ToggleCollapsed.
+// Note that filepath is an actual file path, not an internal tree path as with e.g.
+// ToggleCollapsed. It must be a relative path (relative to the repo root), and it must contain
+// forward slashes rather than backslashes even on Windows.
 func (self *CommitFileTreeViewModel) SelectPath(filepath string, showRootItem bool) {
 	index, found := self.GetIndexForPath(InternalTreePathForFilePath(filepath, showRootItem))
 	if found {